Nottingham Forest have been hunting for extra attacking impetus throughout the January window, with Brentford’s Yoane Wissa being one of the more intriguing prospects.
Given the quantity of ties to forwards in the headlines, Nuno Espirito Santo is certainly seeking for backup for the prolific Chris Wood.
Wood became Forest’s Premier League record scorer this season, but his 13 goals put him far ahead of Morgan Gibbs-White, who had four goals and was the Forest squad’s biggest two-goal threat.
One of the most frequently mentioned names has been Forest’s pursuit of Yuri Alberto, who has a great scoring record in Brazil, although doubts will always remain over whether such form can be converted to English football.
However, if Forest signed Wissa, this doubt would be eliminated. However, Brentford manager Thomas Frank has already made his club’s January plans apparent, which may have an impact on Forest’s interest in Wissa.
Brentford’s quiet January plans may affect Nottingham Forest.
Brentford appears to be avoiding the January window totally because it is historically tough to close any substantial transfers.
In December, The Standard reported: “The Bees are instead focused on the summer window and will only enter the market next month if they suffer fresh and serious long-term injuries which force their hand.”
More specifically, the article said: “Thomas Frank and the club’s recruitment team believe the priority must instead be helping players who have joined Brentford in 2024 to bed in.”
Evidently, Brentford aren’t looking at any incoming signings in January which would make convincing them of any deal that would bring Wissa to the City Ground a difficult one.
Evangelos Marinakis, on the other hand, may want to put their commitment to the test, as Wissa would be an excellent front-runner option to Wood.
Chris Wood and Yoane Wissa would complement one another.
Wood’s clinical target man approach complements Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga well, while Wissa may still give a similar style up front.
Given the height differential, it’s no surprise that Wood wins more aerial duels than Wissa, but the Congolese attacker still wins 47% of his duels per 90 minutes, which is somewhat more than Wood’s 40.2%.
Wissa, like Wood, isn’t much of a creative force for his team, although he has better passing stats than the Forest man, with an 81.2% pass accuracy to Wood’s 63.8%.
Wissa is similarly close to Wood in terms of ball retention, with a dispossession rate of 0.77 per match, which is identical to Wood’s 0.54.
Marinakis did not want to disrupt the Forest squad’s outstanding flow with too many moves in January, so an acquisition like Wissa, who has nearly identical traits to Wood but with slight gains in some areas, might be ideal for Espirito Santo and his Forest coaching staff.
